Vending machines for storing and distributing food and other items to customers upon payment of a specified sum of money are known. In some vending machines, hot food can be dispensed to customers. Such vending machines typically include a refrigerator for storing food, an oven for cooking food, a mechanism for transferring food between the refrigerator and oven, and a mechanism for dispensing the food from the vending machine. One previous vending machine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,210,387 to Smith et al., entitled "Food Handling System." Such vending machines have experienced problems, however, particularly in the storage area where the packages which contain the food items are typically stacked so high that packages at the bottom of the stack become crushed.
Moreover, if a component of a vending machine malfunctions, the vending machine can dispense food that is not of a quality expected by a consumer consistent with normal functioning of the vending machine For example, a vending machine may dispense coffee that is too hot to drink, or that is barely lukewarm, if a heat source in such a vending machine fails, with attendant consumer dissatisfaction and/or injury especially in the absence of indication of the heat source failure.